LABOR backbencher Dr Marisa Paterson will move a motion in the ACT Legislative Assembly tomorrow (August 3) calling for stricter regulations and continued community education programs about vaping and e-cigarettes. 

The mum-of-three has been alarmed by the uptake of vaping in the community, including by teenagers and young adults, and says she wants to do everything within her power to minimise the harm of vaping. 

“As a relatively new product, the effects of vaping and e-cigarettes are not yet known or understood,” she says.

“Leading medical and health associations in Australia and globally advise governments to adopt a precautionary approach to all aspects of vaping and e-cigarettes.”  

Existing legislation in the ACT prohibits the supply of vaping products to anyone under 18. It also prohibits any advertising of vaping and e-cigarette products, however, Dr Paterson believes more can be done, especially at the federal level, to regulate a national approach to flavoured vaping products, display of health warnings on packaging and the requirement for child-proof packaging. 

Locally, Dr Paterson will move that the assembly calls on the ACT government to continue to develop programs that educate and inform Canberrans, particularly younger Canberrans, about the risks of e-cigarettes with an aim to prevent their uptake and use. 

Dr Paterson says the National Health and Medical Research Council is currently funding studies into a range of matters about e-cigarettes, which involves obtaining further data about existing evidence from longitudinal studies that suggests that e-cigarette use by non-smokers is associated with future uptake of tobacco smoking.

Another will determine to what, if any, extent e-cigarettes are effective in helping people quit smoking, she says. 

“There is nothing to be gained from smoking,” she says.

“We, as a community, need to work together to de normalise the behaviour. Smoking is already considered anti-social. We need to continue to support programs such  as the national Quitline to assist those in our community with a nicotine addiction. 

“And we need to ensure that others, particularly children and young adults, do not take it up”. 

The motion will also “ensure that commentary about e-cigarettes and vaping is made by governments and health authorities, and not by those with a commercial interest in the promotion, advertising and marketing of these products”.